Friday, May 29, 2009

2009/2010 EDUCATION BUDGET

As most of you are aware, Grace Church has as part of its ministries, Lititz Christian School and MorningStar Daycare and Academics. Each year our leadership in the school and daycare present a budget that has to be approved by the Board of Education, myself as Senior Pastor, and the full Elder Board. This has already been accomplished for the upcoming 2009/2010 fiscal year. This budget was not without its challenges especially in light of the negative effects of our economy. These challenges were complicated by the following areas:

Enrollment: Two years ago we saw numbers dropping when it came to Christian education at a national level, as well as in our own community. As a matter of fact, two of the areas largest Christian Schools recently announced a merger in hopes of maintaining quality Christian education and financial stability. The good news is that while enrollment in Christian schools has declined, funding through the EITC program has sky rocketed, giving families who qualify, the opportunity to receive tuition assistance. We are hopeful that these funds will help to increase enrollment.

Healthcare: Nationally, employers are cutting back or eliminating health benefits, forcing more and more people into the ranks of the uninsured. It is our desire to continue to offer quality healthcare to our employees at a price that does not heavily impact the ministry nor the employee. Unfortunately, next year our healthcare will increase over 17%.

ACSI: The Association of Christian Schools International has made some changes in the Early Childhood department. Teacher to student ratio has dropped from 10-1 to 7-1. To meet these standards we will need to hire more staffing.

I think our Senior Administrator, Rick Bernhardt, said it best when he wrote, “The danger with financial challenges is that we often allow Satan to take a foothold and distract us from our vision. Allow me to remind you that we serve a much bigger God than the challenges that we are facing. It is with great confidence that we move forward and pursue the quality care and education that God has in store for the ministries of Grace Church. We will continually access the budget in the next fiscal year and continue to pursue the academic initiatives needed to continue improving the quality of our programs and fulfill our purpose.”

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I am a graduate of Liberty University where I received my Bachelors and Masters Degrees. I have been a full-time pastor since 1987, pastoring churches in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. I currently am the Lead Pastor at the E-Free Free Church in Gaylord, Michigan. My passion is to see people come to faith in Christ through the ministry of the local church.